Celtic are reported to have missed out on two strikers as the search for Kyogo Furuhashi’s replacement reaches the desperate stage.
Mathias Kvistgaarden has been linked with Celtic since the summer 2023 transfer window with Kelechi Iheanacho turning out to be less than a 24 hour wonder, coming and going during the course of Saturday.
It is often claimed that the January transfer window is notoriously difficult to do business in with that reality being hammered home even with three extra days to get deals completed this year.
Rennes didn’t meet with too much resistance over their interest in Kyogo Furuhashi but business in the other direction is looking laboured.
Covering Saturday’s attempts to sign that elusive striker The Sun reports:
BRENDAN RODGERS suffered a double blow as Celtic’s anxious search for a new striker saw them set to miss out on TWO targets.
A failure to agree a deal with Brondby for long term Mathias Kvistgaarden – with the clubs’ valuations too far apart – saw the Hoops quickly focus on Sevilla forward Kelechi Iheanacho with a loan option and summer purchase option on the table.
SunSport Online revealed their dramatic move at lunchtime… but after a dramatic afternoon of talks their hopes now look to be in tatters.
Iheanacho, 28, had been keen on a potential re-union with the Celts boss having starred for him at Leicester City and winning both the FA Cup and Community Shield.
But Parkhead chiefs couldn’t reach an agreement with the La Liga side – and Championship side Middlesbrough quickly stole a march on them with boss Michael Carrick now confident of getting his man.
Will Celtic emerge from the transfer window with a stronger squad than on January 1?
Yes, we have an experienced CEO that delivers results
No, we never learn and repeat previous mistakes
Rodgers is on record as saying that he sees Daizen Maeda as a winger but with six games coming up between February 2 and 18 the Celtic boss might have no other option but to use the Japanese internationalist as a striker to take some of the burden off Adam Idah.
Johnny Kenny and Daniel Cummings are in the squad but between them they have played less than 45 minutes first team footbal for Celtic.
Before and after today’s match at Motherwell Rodgers is likely to be questioned about transfer activity as fans listen in for signs of progress.
Kyogo flew to Rennes to finalise his transfer on Thursday January 22, despite knowing that move in advance Celtic are 40 hours away from the transfer window closing with no sign of a replacement of similar or higher quality.
Are we surprised at the situation we find ourselves in ??…I know I’m not…The Club continually fails to handle transfers properly…both in and out…and its what I’ve come to expect…As Joe said…we’ve known about certain situations for months…yet here we are again…looking at a shambles.Possibly there will be panic buys over the week-end…but the damage is done…AGAIN !!
If we knew Kyogo was going, his replacement should have been signed 1st. Teams know we are desperate and have cash..
it’s grand to have a pop about the brondby situation , but we know up to now they are a hard bunch to deal with , i wouldn’t be forced into that deal , being held to ransom when we know we can return in the summer for a player who is unhappy and unsettled who is working his ticket and at a realistic price , it’s not like mcginn , he has had no offers elsewhere , and again i wonder if he is all he;s made out to be and worth all this money .
I would like another striker in obviously , with a brown type midfielder , but i think we have enough in our locker with jota and maeda taking over from kyogo , we can hope both along with kuhn and idah will see us through to season’s end comfortably with the lead we have and superior goal difference , it’s not all doom and gloom
Editor: What shape do you think we are in for getting through two Champions League qualifiers in August? 50-50 at best, 60-40 against going on previous qualifying attempts.
Bertie
We need 6 players for the 3 forward positions as we swap the front 3 in nearly every match.
We haven’t even got that
It’s one play-off match for Celtic in the CL qualifiers in 2025-26. Home in 2nd leg as seeded.
If we win The League Title That is…
Sign no players and it might be closer than we think it’ll be –
Still there’s 36 hours left !
Surprise surprise, two days left in the transfer window and what do Celtic do. We make two low ball offers for two main targets even when we know the prices the clubs want before they let them go .
It’s very likely we will get a second rate striker on loan or for a small transfer fee. If we are not getting a class striker why don’t we buy decent defenders to compete against the top clubs in Europe .
Yes maeda as striker I’d go for that rather than get a bench warmer i don’t know what Taylor is looking for to stay at Celtic i don’t think it’s money I’d say it’s the length of the contract is the thing
Nothing changes with this board as long as liewell is at the club,what pisses me off is that Rodgers must have been promised the earth when he signed for us again but we’re back to square one,as we’ve been at every transfer window for years now, putting low ball offers in getting rebuffed then we end up chasing duds that no one else wants,on and on it goes, Rodgers should be kicking up fuck with Desmond about the way we do business or is he quite content to go along bearing in mind he’s on 2-3 million a year.
The whole thing stinks and we still get the happy clappers saying ,yes everything is fine ,no need to panic blah blah ,if we’re not careful this league may not be won just yet and god help us over the 2 leg Bayern ties, and our board just happy to pile up money in the bank but will haggle over 2 million when we’ve got at least 80 million in the bank, with liewell doing his poker bluffing that’s how we missed out on MC Ginn and ended up paying way over the odds for Idah, when will we ever learn, it’s disgusting every transfer window.
Hopefully Good News.
Don’t Rate The pair.
Binning Kyogo At the Buisness time of the
Season utter incompetence.sheer insanity
Another Parkhead Farcical.nonsense
Up there with the Old Custodians
Moving us to Cambuslang..
Managed decline yet again. Where is tisdale isn’t he the football doctor or some shit? Never seen a board so greedy for money. There’s no way br sins an extension. For every step forward we take, we take six back the way.
For such a successful club both on and off the pitch,
our Achilles’ heel remains – as always – recruitment.
Off the pitch: e.g. Eddie Howe, Dom McKay, Mark Lawwell.
On the pitch: since the ‘Willo Flood’ window and before, our transfer strategy has been stupid?
The Board seems to repeat the same mistakes every window – but the Kyogo transfer is something else again.
It seemed to work much better when Ange was manager…
Frustrating. 🙁
I am more than hopeful and optimistic about Johnny doing the Striker
job for Celtic in the best Scottish League…I am super confident.
In the UEFA Conference League 2024/2025, Johnny has played
6 matches for 5 goals (av 0.84 goals/match. 79.17 ‘/match.
He will not be daunted by the Scottish top premiership. No way.
https://www.uefa.com/uefaconferenceleague/clubs/players/250156652–johnny-kenny/
Joe, I appreciate that Johnny Kenny has limited experience playing with the Celtic Firsts. He may take time
to understand and put into practice, BR’s Celtic Basics, nuances and quick adjustments of play as called by BR or Callum. He has the skills, intelligence and maturity to carryout the BR Celtic playbook quicker than we think.
J F does not want Daizen Maeda anywhere near the forward channel as a Striker. I accept that opinion.
I agree he is more valuable as a playmaker, providing assists from the side or wherever he moves, to get an advantage. Jota showed what he could do from both sides against Motherwell. My earlier comments were based on no forthcoming high quality Striker turning up, to replace Kyogo. J Kenny will be 22 years old in June 2025.
What will Fans say, if a young player about 20-22 y old turns up with stats and skill sets no better than Johnny K?
A striker will be announced today, to keep the Fans quite. I can read it in BR’s body language…or is he just happy
following the Motherwell game. Celtic will miss Greg Taylor assists.
How many transfer windows do we let the the invisible man do and lawell do before we realise that they are useless at it!!!!